


Face to Face

by nik_nimmi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25658824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nik_nimmi/pseuds/nik_nimmi
Summary: The bartender offers no more words, no more questions, his own gaze  enraptured by a spill on the table. Jaehyun simply nods, uncaring whether the man pays him attention or not. His eyes are pretty and round, black hair splashed onto an expanse of pale skin.He's beautiful.(Jaehyun and Doyoung meet in a bar)
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung
Comments: 7
Kudos: 49





	Face to Face

Time is a wasting, and Jaehyun can agree.

He can only chuckle as a few tables over an uproar greets the air, the bar filled with cheers over some bets. Suddenly someone's announcing a round of free drinks for all, and within a moment people clamber out their seats and flock to make their orders.

Colours illuminate tables, as each glass is placed with more force than necessary. People are laughing and drinking away, stress melting from their shoulders, a sense of being free spreading through their veins. He watches how people lose themselves in conversations, observes how some welcome a sip of liquor, and some a glass of mere juice.

Jaehyun lets it all pass in front of him, allows the seconds to turn to dust and slip through the narrow pinches of an hourglass, let's himself become one with the background, a side character in the cheer of the place. His mind and heart are tied together with strings of something akin to melancholy, and he can't bring himself to take a sip of the beer in front of him.

"Rough night?"

The voice pulls his attention, turning him away from the commotion to the man behind the counter. The counter is sleek and long, shiny under the low lighting. The bartender offers no more words, no more questions, his own gaze enraptured by a spill. Jaehyun simply nods, uncaring whether the man pays him attention or not. His eyes are pretty and round, black hair splashed onto an expanse of pale skin. 

_He's beautiful._

Jaehyun can only watch on, mesmerized by the way slender fingers handle each thing with a sense of delicacy, a certain elegance to their movements. He can barely make it out, but eventually his eyes latch on the bartender's uniform, the name "Doyoung" printed in black.

"Are you going to drink something?"

He shakes his head no. Doyoung pauses, and he feels his heart halt as the man eyes him. Contemplation, a detached interest, and a curiosity sparkles within them. He says nothing, as the man resumes wiping the table, and placing the bottles back in place.

"University?"

Doyoung gives him a quick glace as he places a glass on the shelf, Jaehyun nodding a yes. He wonders what he looks like, in the other's eyes. Knows that he had forgone his usual routine before going out; knows that shadows hang below his eyes, knows his hair is a mess of brown curls with a will of their own. He wonders if he's easy to read, wonders if Doyoung thinks the same.

Time slips by, and no more words are spoken.

Silence envelops him, the chatter of others a distant world of its own. Doyoung grabs a shot glass, filling it up, before sitting in front of him.

Jaehyun can only stare.

Doyoung's eyes wander. They strip the place apart, dissect it to its very core. They wander from table to table, painting to painting. They linger around the stage, empty and quiet, a sign that says 'Under Renovation' the only company in its solitude. He wonders what the other's thinking, wishes he could know, wishes he could ask.

Jaehyun wishes and wishes, but his body is numb to the pursues of his mind. He can only gaze upon the man in front of him, who glints between bottles of alcohols and miles of glass, and lose himself in wonder.

"Do you have a name?"

He wonders if he does. In the folds of the night, many come to find a solace from their realities. Some of which more distorted than the others, yet just as hard as anyone else's. Jaehyun wonders if tonight is a solace, an escape from the norm, or just another visit, another night out.

He nods a yes.

Doyoung huffs a small laugh, the corners of his lips barely pulling up. Jaehyun feels his heart stutter, and wonders if the strings will come lose any time soon. Doyoung looks at him, then, and Jaehyun feels his heart crawl to his sleeves.

He wonders if this is what longing feels likes.

The string wrings taut around him, and Jaehyun wishes he could speak up. He wishes he could tell this stranger he barely knows about the feelings that loom beneath his ribcage, in the crevices of his chest, in the depths of his heart. 

Jaehyun wishes he could convey what his mind thought, wishes it wasn't so hard to articulate a few sentences. He feels a tear prickle behind his eyes, and wonders why it's easier to _cry_ than to say what he feels.

Doyoung places his hand in the space between them, palm up and open, fingers stretched in wait, yet not demanding.

Jaehyun thinks the invitation over, thinks if its better to draw back and hide before he lets himself spill, let's his words run wild and emotions even wilder. He wonders if he'll regret holding back, wonders if he'll resent himself for opening up.

Jaehyun places his own in the other's confines, albeit a little more tentative.

"What's your name?"

It's a simple question, the basics of any human interaction. It's a question that makes no demands, takes no strains, yet here is, voice barely above a whisper, his heart in a twist, mind a little blank.

Doyoung smiles again, this time a little more longer, a little more wider, a little more softer. Coolness from his fingers wrap around his own, a fragile presence making home in his skin.

"What's your name?" He asks again, and Jaehyun pulls the strings taut. He pulls and pulls and pulls until he feel a snap resonate within him, one that echoes throughout his being, one that lets his mind free, and thoughts spill into the open.

"Jaehyun," he whispers, a little louder, a little firmer.

Doyoung gives him a grin, and he feels a wave of comfort wash over him.

**Author's Note:**

> Dojae are starting to become my comfort ship ;-;


End file.
